


My Wife

by Agentrogers17



Category: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Colin Bridgerton Being an Idiot, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Flirting, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, Modern Era, Oblivious Colin Bridgerton, Punching, Soft Colin Bridgerton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:20:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29754672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agentrogers17/pseuds/Agentrogers17
Summary: What is the worst thing that could happen to Colin Bridgerton getting drunk with his siblings and Penelope? Other than confessing his deepest darkest secrets.
Relationships: Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sharma, Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sheffield, Colin Bridgerton & Penelope Featherington, Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington, Daphne Bridgerton/Simon Basset, Eloise Bridgerton & Penelope Featherington, Simon Basset & Daphne Bridgerton, Sophie Beckett/Benedict Bridgerton
Comments: 25
Kudos: 201





	My Wife

**Author's Note:**

> Not one of my best works, be gentle with me. But I had to get it out of my system.

It seemed like a great idea at first. To go drinking with his siblings and their partners/best friends. Colin was just back from Italy and has really missed his family and one certain petite redhead. The last couple of years, the pull he felt towards the round curved chubby-cheeked woman just got stronger and stronger. Though he was not ready to accept the full depth of his feelings towards her yet, the longing and love he felt towards her were becoming harder to fight. He was lucky enough to be one of her closest friends, which allowed him to text and call her as much as he needed. But it wasn't enough yet. With all these in mind, he also was aware that going drinking with all his siblings and the subject of his desire present might not also be that good of an idea.

But here he was, already had done four shots, and on his second beer. Penelope looked more and more alluring with every sip. Her look didn't really change; no matter how much he drank, the effect the alcohol had was on his resolution to hold his feelings at bay rather than her place in his heart and mind. At some point, Penelope went away with Eloise, and no matter how many times Colin scanned the whole pub, the redhead was nowhere to be seen. He was getting worried, and with so much alcohol in his blood, he was as subtle as a sledgehammer. 

"What has gotten you all hot and bothered?" Anthony teased his younger brother.

"It's nothing," Colin tried to dismiss him.

"Come on, Col," Daphne laughed from under Simon's arm, "You look like a lost puppy."

Colin huffed at his sister, ignoring her teasing smile.

"He is just being dramatic," Benedict laughed, "and is drunk," everyone laughed at Colin's unfocused gaze jumping everywhere in the room.

"Where is my wife?" Colin murmured, making everyone around the table freeze. Simon was first to come back to his senses, to pat the chocking Benedict on the back. 

"Your what?" Anthony gasped. Colin certainly did not have a secret wife; the boy has not brought a girl home since he was 21, and he was over thirty. 

"My wife!" Colin exclaimed, annoyedly, looking at Anthony as if he was talking nonsense.

"Col," Daphne said, inspecting her brother, trying to determine if her brother was having an alcohol poisoning or not and if they should drive him to the hospital before it was too late, "Love, you don't have a wife."

Colin scoffed at her, looking at her as if something was wrong with her, "I think I would know if I didn't have a wife, Daph," he chastised his sister. Then his eyes finally found the redhead approaching the table with his sister in her arm, "There she comes," Colin beamed, struggling to climb onto his feet to greet them. When they were close enough, Colin threw an arm around the plump girl, pulling her flat into his chest, pressing a loud kiss on the crown of her head. The girl was flustered as she could get, blushing harder than anyone has witnessed. Eloise looked confused, Anthony, Simon and Daphne had a mix of shock and amusement in their eyes, and Benedict almost fell over the chair as he was laughing at the idiocy of his younger brother. 

"What the hell is happening here?" Eloise said, slapping Colin's shoulder, demanding her best friend to be released from the trap of his arms, "Let the girl breath, you arsehole," Colin hissed at Eloise, nuzzling his head into the soft locks of the girl he was clutching onto in his arms.

"Ask him," Benedict said between the chuckles. Anthony and Daphne were still frozen in shock, and Benedict was a lost cause in his laughing. 

"Colin," Simon said, being the one taking the responsibility to question the drunk man, "who are you holding right now?" he asked curiously. 

"My wife," Colin said like it was the most natural thing in the world. 

"Excuse me?" Eloise shouted, "Did he take acid?" 

"Fuck off, Eloise," Colin said, kissing the redhead on the forehead, not noticing how frozen she was.

"Colin," Daphne said, noticing the panic in both her sister and her best friend, "Who is your wife?"

"Pen is!" Colin said, releasing Penelope a bit to show her shocked face to others, "Penelope Bridgerton! My beautiful wife!"

***

Colin woke up with a headache; his mouth tasted like death. There was an unfamiliar warmth in the middle of his chest, a small weight resting there. It took him a couple of minutes to realise the weight was from a hand, a hand he was holding tightly in his own, pressing it right above his heart. He opened his eyes with hardship. He was in Anthony's living room, laying on the large sofa, a blanket tangled around his legs. He looked at the hand in his. It was a small, pale, feminine hand with rounded fingernails, coloured in dusty rose. His gaze followed the hand up to the arm it was attached to, finding a round shoulder covered with ruby curls and a face of an angel: his angel, Penelope Featherington. She was still asleep on the sofa next to him, a couple of loose curls surrounding her face, her now make-uples face relaxed as she was deep in slumber. He took advantage of the moment, watching her, drinking her beauty in, memorising every tiny detail. However, he was interrupted by a throat cleaning coming from the opposite side of the room. His sister, Eloise, was watching him with a threatening glare, her arms wounded in front of her. 

"El," he said, getting up slowly. His head and stomach were really killing him. He tucked Penelope's hand next to her, covering the girl with the blanket. 

"Kitchen," Eloise said, pushing him towards the direction of Anthony's kitchen. Anthony and Kate were already up and preparing breakfast when they arrived. Anthony looked up with amusement when he saw his siblings entering the room. Kate watched her husband's smirk grow. She and Sophie had a girls night the previous day. Bridgerton pub nights were fun but too loud to join every weekend. However, the previous night, she and Sophie had witnessed how Anthony and Benedict dragged a drunk Colin, who claimed that poor Penelope was his wife and refused to accept anything otherwise. Benedict was still laughing as he bid his farewell and departed with his wife. Even after Colin fell asleep, he refused to let Penelope's hand go, which only made Eloise even angrier. Anthony, later, had to drag his sister to the guest room, to prevent a fratricide in his own house. 

"Good morning, Colin," Kate said, smiling at her brother-in-law; he always had a special place in her heart. He was a major factor in her relationship with Anthony. 

"Morning, Kate," he said, grimacing at the taste in his mouth. Anthony gave him a glass of water that he chugged in seconds.

"You better have a bloody explanation," Eloise said, not caring about his headache or hungover.

"About what?" Colin asked.

"Your wife, maybe?" Anthony offered, snickering. 

"My wife?" 

"Yes," Kate nodded with excitement, "You know, the wife, you couldn't let go of last night. Short, ginger, curvy, asleep in the living room."

"Penelope?" Colin asked in shock. What the hell happened last night? The idea of Penelope being his wife was... It awoke something in him. Something warm, soft and alluring. 

"Yes, brother," Anthony nodded, "Penelope Bridgerton, as you put last night."

The only thing he could think of was how good that sounded, how natural as if she was meant to be a Bridgerton, his wife. 

"What are your intentions with my best friend, Colin?" Eloise said with a glare in her eyes, walking to Colin, daring him. 

"I," he stuttered. What were his intentions with Penelope? For sure, he loved her. She was his closest friend. She was far more than a friend. She was the dearest person in his life. The only person he could not imagine his life without. The only person whose thought was enough to make him smile in his darkest hour. 

"She is important to me," he said, taking the safe way. Eloise scoffed.

"She is important to us all, but neither of us claimed her as our wife," Eloise said. 

"El," he begged.

"No," Eloise refused to let it go easily and forget it, "That girl is my closest friend in my life. And, I would kill you before I let you toy with her and hurt her."

"I would never toy with her!" Colin said, "Would I ever hurt her?" Colin desperately asked his sister, whose glare only hardened. He knew Anthony would no help in this situation, so he turned to his sister-in-law.

"It wouldn't be the first time, Col," Kate said softly, resting a hand on his shoulder. They all knew Colin would never hurt Penelope, or anyone really, with the intention to do so. But he always was blissfully unaware of everything happening around him, and it usually caused someone getting hurt because of his actions. In this case, this person was Penelope. 

"I hurt Pen?" Colin asked, terrified. Penelope was his dearest friend, even the idea of hurt being hurt anyhow ignited a rage inside him, but the idea of being the cause of her pain made him hate himself like he never had before. 

"How do you think she feels when you use her not to be alone when you are in London and disappear for months without a notice? How do you think she felt when you forgot she even existed just because her cousin visited one summer? How do you think it feels to be your shoulder to cry on for every minor thing when you didn't even stay for when she lost her father?" Every word was a punch to the gut for Colin. He never wanted to hurt her, but Eloise was right.

"El, I..." he tried to explain. But suddenly, Eloise looked tired, done. She just shook her head.

"Just go, Colin", she said, "I will stay with her like I always do. I will collect the pieces," she said, leaving the kitchen. Colin could only stare at the wall, trying to ignore the sudden emptiness in his chest, trying to handle the information of causing Penelope for years. Kate was sympathetic, rubbing his back, as her own husband was not the best with emotions. It was not a surprise Colin is not so bright in recognising his. Anthony grimaced at the tension in the kitchen, deciding to follow his sister to cool her off. Around ten minutes later, the door closed, and Anthony returned to the kitchen, rubbing his temple. 

"El and Pen are not joining us for breakfast, as you can guess," he said, moving to get some coffee, "And you need to get your act together," he said, pointing at his brother. 

"Give him a break, Anthony," Kate scolded her husband, "You were not great at that stage of relationship either."

"We never had a decade long are we friends or am I in love with you phase, where I broke your heart over and over again, dear wife," Anthony pointed out a bit harsher than he wanted to, but he was tired of hearing Eloise aggression over Penelope because once again Colin did or neglected to do something. It was heartbreaking for Penelope, too. The girl was a sister to him at this point, with or without his brother taking his head out of his arse. And the girl for certain did deserve better. He knew Colin never wanted to break her heart, put her through so much pain. But Colin was not the smartest man when it came to recognising the outcomes of his actions. His constant need and addiction to the redhead left no room for her to get over him and heal. Both his siblings had points they were right about, but Colin already lost more than ten years, and Penelope deserved happiness in this lifetime. 

"Anthony," Kate said, she loved Penelope, but Colin's cluelessness reminded her of the first weeks she met Anthony but in a gentler and loving manner. 

"No," Anthony refused, "Eloise is right, Col. Maybe a bit harsher than needed. But, you can't not see her point. She has been watching her best friend suffer because of you. And I know you never wanted to, but it doesn't change the fact that you did. You feel something for her, that might be love that might be companionship, but it has been 12 years, Colin. She has been heartbroken over you for 12 years. For God's sake, you are not a heartless man, do something, anything."

***

Colin spent three days drunk and hungover. He knew he loved Penelope, and he knew Eloise and Anthony were right. He lost so much time; he hurt her so many times. And know he was being crushed under the weight of the guilt and all his actions over the past decade. He wanted to make things right; he wanted to apologise, somehow mend all the hurt he caused. But he was scared. He was terrified of stepping out of the friendzone and losing her at all. It was 3 am when the thought of Pen suffering alone became unbearable. And before he knew what he was doing, he was in front of her door, banging. 

He heard two sets of feet, unfortunately. And when the door opened, it was Eloise standing between him and the love of his life. And Eloise had four brothers, so she was used to being pulled and pushed. That is what Colin did exactly; he pushed Eloise away, pulled Penelope by her waist and crashed his lips into hers. He didn't let go until he felt Penelope having trouble breathing. Even after that, his lips didn't leave her skin. 

"Oh, you have some nerve!" Eloise said and actually punched her brother hard on the jaw.

"What the fuck, Eloise!" Colin said, clutching his jaw. 

"El!" Penelope gasped, stepping between the two Bridgertons. 

"Oh, he deserves it!" El said.

"Go back to bed. Come on," Penelope said, urging her best friend back into her room. Eloise protested a little, but she was too sleep-deprived to fight too long. Penelope took a deep breath before returning to the other Bridgerton. She could still feel his lips on hers, his breath tangling with hers, his hands on her hips. What the hell was happening?

"Are you okay?" she asked, moving to the kitchen to get some frozen peas. She wrapped them into a towel before making her way to Colin. He was still holding his jaw, eyes never leaving Penelope, watching, taking in. She shooed his hands away, pressing the peas to his reddish jaw. He gave a hiss at the contact, which made her make a face. 

"What has gotten into you, Col?" she asked.

"I found some guts?" he offered. 

"What do you mean?" she asked, brushing his hair back.

"Come," Colin said, sitting down and pulling her to his lap. Her weight a comfort on his thigs, "You are wonderful, you know that?" he asked, "No man, most certainly I, could never deserve you. I have been an arse, all these years, love. I know that," he said, voice full of regret, "I never wanted to hurt you. I know I did, I was reminded I did, but it never was my goal. You are so special to me, darling. I think Eloise would hit me once more, but you are my best friend. Even more than that. You hold my heart, my soul and my mind in your hands, and I wouldn't have it any other way, darling."

"What are you saying, Col?" she asked; she was terrified.

"I am in love with you, have always been. But for the first time, I am brave enough to say it."

"What changed, Col?" she asked, still unsure, afraid it was a cruel joke. Although she knew Colin was not a sadistic man. She knew Colin was kind and caring; even when he broke her heart, he never made her feel as if she did not matter. But Colin was Colin. Tall, handsome, loving and gorgeous. And she was Penelope, plain old Penelope. 

"I did," he said, smiling sadly. It was clear to him now, the pain her eyes carried, the wall she built to hold herself uptight, "I was a boy, darling. You always were dear to me. Never doubt your place in my heart. I love what we have. You were always in my heart, right beside my family, because you are my family. I knew I wanted more, I want more, with you, by my side. But the idea it not working out or somehow losing along the way terrified me. And I lingered in this blurry area, not aware how much I hurt you. Blind to what my actions costed," he said, caressing her hips. His jaw hurt. He could feel the skin getting more sensitive with bruises, ice together with Penelope's touch was comforting, but he was starting to regret the time they thought Eloise throw a punch. 

"Colin, I am not sure," Penelope hesitated. It was too good to believe after so many years.

"I love you, Pen," he said, "I am in love with you. And at some point in my mind, I married you as you might have gathered from a couple of nights before. You have many reasons not to trust or believe me. I have been a prick all these years. But if you'll have me, I could bring you the moon for you to give me the honour of being your husband."

"You are not asking me to marry you after one kiss."

"How many more kisses is it needed then, wife?" 

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think.


End file.
